Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and John Thune (R-South Dakota) have expressed concern that taxpayer dollars will support a company with foreign ownership if Fisker is acquired by a Chinese company.

"Senator Thune and I asked the Energy Department about potential foreign ownership of Fisker in June 2012. When we raised concerns about taxpayers supporting a company with foreign ownership, the Energy Department waved those concerns away," Grassley said. "Now, those concerns may soon become a reality. Like A123, this looks like another example of taxpayer dollars going to a failed experiment. Technology developed with American taxpayer subsidies should not be sold off to China. I hope there's at least some accountability at the Department of Energy, but given its track record, I'm not holding my breath."

It has been strongly suggested that two Chinese companies -- Geely Automotive and Dongfeng Motor Corp. -- are looking for a majority stake in Fisker. It has also been rumored that Fisker could move all of its auto production to China if it made a deal with a Chinese company.

Fisker Karma

A deal isn't expected to be made until next month at the earliest. Fisker made mention that it is considering offers from all over the world -- not just China.

Fisker received $529 million in U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) loans in April 2010. The loans were part of a program to progress development of high-tech vehicles, where Fisker received $169 million for Karma plug-in engineering and $359 million for Nina production. The loans were also meant to revamp a closed General Motors plant in Wilmington, Delaware for Fisker EV production.

However, Fisker fell a little behind on its production schedule, and in May 2011, DOE froze the loans due to "unmet milestones." Fisker had only drawn $193 million of it at that point. In October 2012, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee decided to look into the original terms of its loan to Fisker Automotive, questioning whether DOE will step in to help the electric vehicle (EV) automaker if it goes bankrupt and investors are allowed to retrieve their money.